After another year of dramatic enrollment losses, the Los Angeles Unified school board president is considering the possibility of closing or merging schools. The nation’s second-largest school district now enrolls 408,083 students, according to figures published Jan. 31. In the 2023-24 school year, LAUSD enrolled 419,749 kids; the year before that, 429,349. “I’m kind of...

The nation’s second largest school district isn’t exactly coming roaring back from the pandemic, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly called the nation’s report card. But the Los Angeles Unified School District also isn’t lagging behind either, according to the federal measure of math and reading skills, which, among other things, is...

Firefighters have now contained deadly wildfires that just after the new year devastated whole swaths of Los Angeles. Schools are reopening and, for some families, life is returning to normal.  But the historic blazes, which in January prompted the emergency closure of the nation’s second-largest district and burned some schools completely, made a lasting impression...

As usual, David Tokofsky is annoyed about something at LA Unified. This time it’s the school board, which Tokofsky says is failing to post materials for public meetings online in a timely enough manner. He peppers reporters with unheeded calls for stories on the scandal.  Tokofsky is the guy who shows up at board meetings...

Los Angeles school officials have a message for President-elect Donald Trump about his promised immigration crackdown: we’re ready for you. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant from Portugal, said this week the nation’s second largest district is preparing for the incoming administration’s planned mass...

The new president of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education says he wants to fight the district’s cratering enrollment with new policies and approaches. Scott Schmerelson, who has worked in the LA Unified School District for nearly four decades and has served on the board since 2015, was elected and installed as...

A teacher union-backed incumbent has prevailed in a high-stakes LAUSD school board race,  dealing another setback to the nation’s largest charter school sector.   Charter-backed upstart Dan Chang failed in the Nov. 5 elections to unseat Scott Schmerelson, the longtime LAUSD educator and policymaker who won the election and will begin his third and final term...

Update Nov. 20:  LA voters overwhelmingly approved a $9 billion bond measure to repair and upgrade LAUSD’s aging school buildings. Measure US was backed by LAUSD school board members, district superintendent Alberto Carvalho, the teachers union and local construction groups; and passed with 68% of the vote. Measure US would be LAUSD’s largest ever school...

Los Angeles Unified has revised its leading effort to boost academic outcomes for Black students after conservative Virginia-based activists filed a civil rights complaint, charging the program uses race as a criteria for admission. The district’s $120 million Black Student Achievement Plan had a clear goal: lifting the academic performance of Black students, who trail...

Los Angeles Unified is seeking voters’ approval for a $9 billion bond measure to repair and upgrade its aging school buildings.   The bond, which Californians will vote on Tuesday as Measure US, would be LAUSD’s largest ever and paid for with property tax increases. It requires a 55% majority in order to pass.  LAUSD Board...